Summertime in Florence: Eating Light on Light Budgets
by Simone Bodmer-Turner
After studying in Florence for an entire semester, I returned for the summer determined to quit my indulgence in cheap and delicious pizzas, oversized cheese-loaded pastas and mountains of bread soaked in olive oil. And no, gelato is not mentioned in that list because too bad, I’m not giving it up. By no means am I saying not to indulge in Italian food while in Italy, I did it and I loved it, but it could only continue for so long without consequences. And besides, I now know that Italian food is not just pizza and pasta and I wanted to explore the healthier versions of Italian cuisine while saving myself from turning into a block of cheese.
The problem no longer lay in my willingness but in the amount of money eating healthy cost. When out to lunch the salads looked measly compared to the hot-melty panini and when out to dinner the salads, fish, and chicken dishes were twice the price of pizza. Determined to find some healthy and less expensive options I revolutionized my way of looking at a menu and also found some great foolproof healthy places.
One great thing I found that you can do at pretty much any restaurant was ordering a “Contorno” or even better half of one contorno and half of another, because one order is usually monstrous. Using this technique I ate a light lunch of a hearty amount of sautéed spinach and roasted vegetables for 5 euro. With the warm weather, lots of restaurants are now including cantaloupe wrapped in prosciutto and cold vegetable puree soups like gazpacho as appetizers. Both are healthy, inexpensive options for lunch.
Three of my favorites:
Osteria Santo Spirito – has wonderful melon wrapped in prosciutto for 9 euro, and large portions.
Borgo Antico in Santo Spirito – great salads for 8 euro. My favorite is the Insalata Borgo with chicken substituted for anchovies (shown in photograph).
And the foolproof one…Lovelife on the corner of Via dell’ Oriulo and Via Sant’Egidio – don’t let the cheesy title in English fool you, this place has only healthy options to go or to sit! They have a vast assortment of smoothies that you can choose from which are blended before your eyes. If you’re a traditional smoothie drinker they have your plain-vanilla strawberry, banana, and yogurt smoothie but if you’re a little more adventurous try something with untraditional ingredients like figs or bran for an extra health boost. They have an assortment of salads with different choices of toppings such as chick peas, olives, tomatoes, skim milk mozzarella, corn, strawberries, and oranges as well as rice, couscous, and faro dishes with vegetables mixed in. The smoothies are between 3 and 4 euro and the salads and rice dishes are just 4.40!
CiboChat Staff also recommends: Brac vegetarian restaurant in Via dei Vagellai nearby FUA and Coquinarius in Via delle Oche nearby the Duomo.